Summary

The Good

When Quake came out in 1996, it's technology was simply amazing. 100 percent true 3d in a fast action game was something never accomplished before Quake, so you can imagine the impact it had.

The gameplay was very much like Doom's, except there were some more bits and pieces incorporated into the levels (for example, hidden shootable buttons that were mostly located in dark areas) to add a little puzzle aspect to them. The levels were large and nicely designed, however the textures looked a little ugly when you where in close proximity to them. The soundtrack, which was contributed by Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor), was very atmospheric and scary, it contributed a lot to the overall atmosphere of the game (you need to get the CD-ROM release to get it, it is not included in the downloadable version sold by id -- it's a must have!).

The multiplayer was simply astounding when this came out. It was also the first id fps to support internet play out-of-the-box (Doom did not originally support this because the internet was not much used in 1993).

The Bad

There aren't much things not to like about Quake, since there's not that much to it. However, every game has it's faults (well, I'm pretty sure about that anyway), so here are Quake's few.

First of all, the colors. This is a matter of taste of course, but there have been many complaints by gamers in the past about the 'brown' look of the game (lack of variation in color). Look at the screenshots to see what I mean.

Second, little replay value. It's still fun the second (or third) time, but the 'scare' factor will be gone for the most part.

Third, the end game is just bizarre. It sucks, one of the worst endings ever.

Also, some of the levels were plain stupid. But only a handful, and I personally think the good far outweighs the bad in this case.

The Bottom Line

Quake is a great game if you like the kind of first person shooter that doesn't go into too much detail about 'why', 'where', or 'who'. I've still got it installed on my P90 to this day and I get back to it time by time. Quake remains enjoyable even after ten years of aging.